The Benefits, Risks and Regulation of Using ChatGPT in Chinese Academia: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Research Aims. This research project investigates what are the major benefits and risks of Chinese students using ChatGPT for academic activities. Also, the project assesses how, if applicable, should ChatGPT be regulated in Chinese academic settings in order to maintain academic integrity and ethical standards. Methodology. The collection of primary data from relevant newspaper articles serves as the foundation of this research project. Here, the content analysis is used for primary data collection. A combination of keywords [“ChatGPT” AND (“China” OR “Chinese”) AND (“students” OR “student”)] were typed on the Google news search engine on 12 April 2023. A sum of 40 newspaper articles were deemed eligible for data analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative data were extracted and analyzed. Findings. The opinion of using ChatGPT to fulfil academic responsibilities has been polarized in China. The conservative camps worry that students are using ChatGPT to commit academic cheating. However, some Chinese educators believe AI-powered technologies should be incorporated into academic learning as AI-enabled writing tools can help improve the quality of academic outputs. A major concern that Chinese educators hold, to date, is plagiarism violations by students as an act of academic cheating. Most newspaper articles presented the use of ChatGPT in Chinese academic settings neutrally. Newspaper articles published in March 2023 contained more positive and negative word(s) about the use of ChatGPT in academic learning. Conclusions. Given the benefits ChatGPT can provide and the near-infeasibility of massively ban the use of AI-powered software, more regulations should be set up in Chinese academia. Teachers have to guide students on how to fact-check the details provided by AI and add citations and references accordingly in their coursework. Moreover, teachers should guide students on how to ask AI-powered software questions systematically and creatively, in order to maximize the intellectual outputs generated from ChatGPT.